Sunday, October 21, 2012

Facts do not exist in the Vacuum of Human Nature - knowledge, human instincts and the greatest struggle of humanity

It is our own human nature that evokes the emotion we feel when looking at this picture.

The Perception

Facts do not rule our lives.

Our perception does.

And to better understand the world

Is to better understand our own humanity

Our good and bad inclinations,

Our good and bad nature.

To encourage the former

And resist the latter

Is the greatest struggle

For all of us.

.................................

No Vacuum. We are all humans. Facts do not exist in the vacuum of human nature. Well, it could exist in such a vacuum... but so long as we are human beings, what experiences and knowledge we all acquire is distilled by our natural instincts. This is true whether we seek physical experiences and knowledge, or spiritual experiences and knowledge.

Love is beyond the physical. Even Atheists know this, but some have been conditioned
by a Mr-Know-All sense of pomposity and condescension. And the Believers? Of course
we believe in Love, we are just not very good at it. Still working to improve....

The Honey and Poison of Human Nature. Both believers and unbelievers, between those who believe in the existence of God and those who do not, we all come born into this world with certain virtuous instincts unalienable to our nature - the instinct to survive, to seek company, to socialize, to love, to forgive, to seek understanding, to tolerate and to be caring. But we are also born with our ego, thus our instinct is not only to survive but to dominate, not only to seek company but to rule, not only to socialize but to to demonize and ostracize those who are 'not like us', not only to love but to overwhelm, not only to forgive but to put 'such people' in their rightful place (beneath us), not only to understand others for empathy but to subjugate, and lastly... not only to be tolerant and caring but to rationalize our own sense of moral superiority.

So you see, for each honey of humanity, there is an equal and devastating poison when you look closely at the words and action of Mankind. The poison can, and alas has destroy the happiness of many, many people.

Unhappiness is waiting in the rain for a ride that will never come. Admit it, we have
all felt like this at some point or rather in our lives.

The Importance of History. It is too bad that history is such a neglected topic of public discourse. Because there is no better way to study human nature than history. It is all there, because frankly, there is nothing new and original under the Sun. All has been gone over, many, many times before in the past - orthodoxy, conservatism, revolution, war and evolution, economic boom and bust, spiritual enlightenment and moral decay, liberalism and reactionary forces, all entwined in a constant struggle for and the conditioning of the human heart. If we would only look into history, it will reveal many warnings and signs that can help us avoid the worst manifestation of our egos... violence, hate, hubris, wars and oppression.

Islam. For the Muslims, we must look beyond the trending news of terror, fundamentalism, extremism, violence and hate that is perpetuated by the very same Mass Media that is purportedly acting for liberalism, freedom and justice. We must look back to history to understand the significance of these global trends. For as you may recall, no facts exist outside human nature. By acknowledging this, not only about 'the others' but especially more so, about our own selves, we will come better to understanding our own human instincts, and learn to encourage the good of God that is within all of us, and struggle against the selfish and self-conceit of our egos. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) calls this the greatest struggle of humanity.